Need to vent on 'Ohana experience

[always]

Does it really matter if it's the runners, servers, management or all of them? The point is, this is not an isolated issue, it can't be tied to just one server due to the prevalence of these issues, and there has to be some kind of systemic issue that's causing this change. And having been in a similar situation, it seems completely reasonable that the server lied. Heck, we told ours multiple times to slow it down and he was right in there with the runners trying to force a speed dining situation. Ultimately, a guest should never have to request a well paced meal. The restaurant has failed if you have to go out of your way to try and correct them on such matter.

It's called throughput and no amount of manager table visits at a place like Ohana will change this practice. Although they charge premium prices it's not RPM, Swift & Son, Maple and Ash ( my absolute favorite) or Ruth's Chris. It's really too bad because we book Ohana every trip.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Towards the end of the video

I hope things change so people can enjoy the meal. Good show!

 

[TeresaWen]

Fabulous pod cast! So true. Guests need to not accept this poor level of service and let Disney know in the moment that it is completely unacceptable!

It is not a guests responsible to help turn tables over by allowing themselves to be rushed through a meal.

I love the twitter suggestion!

 

[daveag]

My rant. Recently we’re were there for breakfast. We were in FL for the Star Wars races and wanted a character breakfast before heading home. Horrible service experience. We were rushed. Just the opposite, we were ignored... by the characters, by the staff. Folks sat, ate, and left before we got served. I spoke to the manager and all I got was “geez, I’m so sorry.” No change in attention levels, no comp. nothing.

 

[loloandstitch]

We went to Ohana in late 2016, so it's been a while. But I came back raving about the experience, and recently recommended to our friends who are a couple who went to WDW the first time. They said they had an 8:00pm res and weren't seated until close to 9:15. For two people! They also said the staff kept coming back every like 10 min to ask if they wanted more food. They felt so exhausted having to keep saying no. I felt so bad because I kept pushing them to go for the experience. Hope someone in management is really paying attention- and cares!

 

[TaraWasHere]

They were asking what else they could get and do for you, and you felt that was them telling you to go? Many others would feel that that is kind and solicitous service.

I am sure SOME would find that to be a wonderful thing. However for ME having to say "no thank you" every 3 minutes is complete overkill. Individual people have individual experiences. Not all of their opinions of said experiences are going to coincide with your own.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

I had a hard time listening to the podcast and even reading this thread, as it was my dad's favorite restaurant and his death (and our memories from Disney) is still a little raw.

I figured I'd weigh in, though. We dined there with a group of 10 back in October, 2017. Our cousins, who are definitely foodies and will call out a place for not being good...loved it. We thought the service was great, the food was as solid as ever, and we all really enjoyed our meal. We returned for Christmas with another family (total of 8) and service was definitely a bit slower. We had to ask for more meat or refills...and once we did it was a bit of overkill.

Breakfast was very meh. Felt like an all-you-can-eat quick service with characters.

I totally agree with the poster who recommended a Fogo De Chao style restaurant where you could "flip" when you want more.

Frankly, we always preferred the "appetizers" over the meats.

 

[Nancyg56]

Simple fix. Give people cards on the table like the do at other similar restaurants. Flip it to green when you need/want something such as the next course, drink refills or more meat. Flip it to red when you dont want/need anything right now.

It would be simple if the house wanted to cater to the guess, but they do not. This restaurant is turning tables, and allowing a guest to time their meal is not part of that plan.

 

[Steph5324]

See that? Not a name or feat that I do more than glaze my eyes over once a year although I'm sure his family members and admirers are proud of his notoriety.

They are!!! Several years ago my family was vacationing in Maine and took a lobster boat trip on the 4th of July. The hotdog contest had just finished and the captain proudly announced that Joey had won again and he's quite the proud uncle! I couldn't believe it. Of course he could have been making it up but we chose to believe our captain was Joey Chestnut's uncle.

 

[glvsav37]

the problem at Ohana is that 80% of your meal is not handled by the main server—its all the runners who are there just drop plates and deliver skewers. We hardly saw our waiter once the drinks were ordered and basics out of the way. As someone posted earlier, the food runners don't even stop at your table, they drop and go without a word. I'm assuming that they are trained that they see a table at, they go into action mode, are on autopilot and have very little communication with the waiter.

We had sort of the opposite experience as the OP b/c the skewer servers apparently work in a table rotation and it seemed my table was at the last of that rotation. So all meal we would get served skewers w/o enough meat (or no meat at all) for our group of 4. But instead of going and getting fresh meat and coming back to fill our empty plates, they would get fresh meat and start the rotation all over again. It took forever for any of us to have a complete meal.

We have not been back there in 2+ trips since, and don't have it planned for our next trip.

 

[michelepa]

Let’s face it. The set up here will only be changed once people stop booking reservations.

Reality is that if a restaurant is filled to capacity every night with hopeful guests checking every day for a cancelled reservation and people are willing to sit in the lobby area for an hour after their scheduled reservation time just to eat there the business owner is unlikely to care about people’s complaints.

That’s why whenever I see an O’Hana thread I post my negative experience because people need to know the truth not the hype b

 

[Malestrom Troll]

I've had mixed experiences at 'Ohana. I've never had horrible service but I would say the waiters here are generally subpar. I do think its way overpriced. Once, I think back in 2015, I had a terrible experience with the food. The meats were undercooked, then later in the service they were coming out overcooked. I'm talking bloody chicken which is unacceptable.

 

[FyreDansyr]

I've been to Ohana once a few years ago and my experience was apparently not the norm. I left starving. They only came around with skewers once. Just chicken and beef. The chicken one was almost empty so my boyfriend had two pieces and I had one. (That's all there was) The steak was very rare so my boyfriend had some and I asked for some that was cooked more. Never saw any more skewers. Didn't see the waitress for almost an hour. At this point we were one of the last people in the restaurant. And then she just walked over and threw dessert on the table and walked away. My boyfriend had to get up and chase her to ask about more meat. We were told the grills were turned off and there was no more. She implied that it was our fault for not asking sooner. We would have if we saw her at any point. Really, we would have asked anyone but nobody was even walking by our table. I should also mention that I don't like potstickers and I didn't like the noodles so I really didn't get to eat much. I expected more than one piece of chicken. They wouldn't even comp the meal. We ended up at steak n shake after we left.

 

[Lop460]

We were a table of two in late March and were seated within 5-10 min. All the food was amazing although we didn’t like the salad dressing, but that’s an individual taste thing. There was definitely a rushed feeling but at the same time I think that all the servers rushing around and serving so fast made us feel like we had to rush. We should’ve just slowed ourselves. My biggest complaint is our drinks. They were pushing meat off the skewer onto our plate and we still had no drinks. We went through salad and appetizer with nothing and either could not find our server or she was rushing around in a frenzy and we would have had to trip her to get her attention. The drink issue continued throughout the meal. We never received another one until dessert was almost gone. It was a shame because everything else was great and that issue almost ruined it for us. We’ll be giving it another try in June with a party of 5 so we’ll see how it goes then.

 

[lovin'fl]

They should bring pitchers of water to leave on the tables at least. But I like bar drinks and getting more than one of those at Ohana is a feat.

 

[hereforthechurros]

For a large group (11) dining at Ohana for the first time next month, this thread has been very helpful. We will expect a family style meal and just take our time where appropriate. But we do love our cocktails and hope they don’t forget us there!

 

[kaytieeldr]

I think each adult can order two drinks at a time. You might want to consider trying that when you first order.

 

[TeresaWen]

For a large group (11) dining at Ohana for the first time next month, this thread has been very helpful. We will expect a family style meal and just take our time where appropriate. But we do love our cocktails and hope they don’t forget us there!

Just make sure your server knows your expectations. If your experience is falling short make it known in the moment and if necessary have management adjust the tip.

Please don't let anyone make you feel like you should accept rushed / poor service because "that's just what it is". You are paying a lot and looking forward to this meal. You deserve to enjoy it. And that included getting your cocktails on time!!!!!!!

I have been known to go to the bar during a meal to get my own drink! Not what you should ever have to do.

I hope you & your family have a great time!

 

[houseofmouse5]

I just finished listening to the dis unplugged and felt like I needed to jump in with a comment. We went to Ohana last July and had the same experience! I don’t think we were all seated and the server was asking for our drink order which of course I wasn’t ready yet. Then appetizers started coming before we even had our drinks. I thought that was strange but wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and maybe it was just a mistake but oh no the next thing we knew they are at the table with skewers of meat, we hadn’t even finished our appetizers yet! I told them we weren’t ready for food they walked away and came back just a few minutes later. So disappointed that this is what O’hana has turned into. When we left my DH and I looked at each other and said we won’t be going there again! This was our 4th time there and won’t bother again. Too much money for that.

As a side note this is also the same restaurant our camera got stolen right off the table in 2008. We don’t know exactly how someone did it with a group of 11 of us there but it happened. I know that is not O’hana’s fault but since then I like to just keep people aware that this even happens at Disney. I was told this is common at places on property but outside of the parks. This is due to thieves being able to come and prey on tourists but they don’t need to pay for park tickets and can get out relatively quickly.

 

[Captainkidd76]

There are 2 main issues with 'Ohana:

1. It's just too busy to get everyone a table, so they're rushing people.
2. It's too expensive per person for them to try and rush anyone.

Thankfully, we're not much for long meals, so if it's a bit quick, we don't mind much but I can certainly understand the OP's frustration, and don't blame them for being upset.